New License agreement sucks for Enthusiasts!!!

Some parts of the EULA are vague and it's hard to figure out what they mean. And Microsoft employees seem to be providing conflicting interpretations.

With regard to device license the Vista EULA states: "The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time". It's not very clear what would count as another device. Presumably a mobo change but possibly just swapping out the HD. In the XP Pro EULA it states: "You may move the Product to a different Workstation Computer. After the transfer, you must completely remove the Product from the former Workstation Computer." Some MS employees are claiming that the XP EULA meant one time so the new Vista EULA is a clarification but I doubt that's the interpretation that would stand up legally. What's practical to enforce is another matter. If your mobo dies and needs replaced are they going to deny you validation? How do they tell failed mobo replacements from users who just say their mobos failed?

You can download the Vista EULA as well as others here: http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/.

OMFG... there is no way I will buy Vista if I have to buy a new copy for every upgrade.. I have gone threw 3 different PC's in the last 9months... If Linux can let me play games and use the the same programs that I do right now.. I will move with pleasure.. or I will just stick with XP pro tell it is truely dead!.

I am running RC2 right now. Besides the interface, there is not much meat on the bone here. The major hurdle is hardware upgrade cost if you intend to use the "Aero" interface. XP is fine for at least another 2 years or more. As far as licensing, you should be able to activate by calling Microsoft in the event of hardware replacement. I know I have with XP occasionally and have never had a problem with activation. Problems like this are why I look at alternatives such as Linux and OSX.

It shouldnt matter. The enthuisiast will always be looking to upgrade his or her computer. I'm getting lazy, though. I work on computers all day and I dont want to touch them when I get home. I am contemplating buying an oem box as my next pc, excuse my blasphemy.

Asside from copy protection.... i like most of what microsoft does. I would HATE to have had Mac be the crown leader in the tech world..




PUKE

Well, a good thing is they do see you as their cash cows (like tobacco company wants to keep the smokers alive because the smokers are their cash cows) so they will implement various features or flaws to force you to upgrade the OS every release.

8O

I wonder how long does it take the dark side to break the copy protection scheme for such a popular stuff

Haha.. I guess Big Bill Gates needs another 10billion...

Well, Steve "Linux is communism" Ballmer is running the show now. What all the license stuff demonstrates is that the whole Microsoft license model is a real pain and out of touch with the needs of a lot of users. You don't run into any of the device transfer and virtualization license nonsense with open source. IBM, Novell, HP, Sun, Oracle are all running with a different business model but I'm not sure Microsoft is capable of changing. They're a dinosaur. It may take a while but the big asteroid from outer space is on its way...

wow, all I can say is boycottvista.com, somebody please make it.

I'll even help produce the video. Something like 'we are the world', but its like 'we are the world without microsoft' and happy people dance in the streets and children sing, etc, yadda yadda.

oh, and dx10 for xp, somebody hack it, please

or heard the linux cats into making dx10linux api (I call programmers cats since they are both notoriously hard to herd. By the time you get 3 or 4 together some have already wandered off...)

lets face it, if games worked on linux, microsoft wouldn't exist anymore...

stupid games

okay i take that back, but wtf, i've found open source systems and apps for everything i need cept bf2...

maybe boycottdirectx.com since all the openGL games like doom3 run fine under linux.

Well a big thanks for opening my eyes to a story that seemingly slipped me by (DX9L. does this mean we aren't being forced into vista upgrades for no reason other than wanting dx10? cause thats how i feel until you said that).

But I would argue that there is enough hatred for M$s dominance in the industry. Enough that if people like me who've managed to move all their computing application needs into free/open source alternatives, cept the games. Making a linux api platform much like dx would finally give us hope for a windows free world.

I really have nothing against xp as a piece of software. Its leaps and bounds better than everything else from a 'ease of use' and compatability stand point. Its the nazi like control Mr balmer's empire has because of M$s's dominance that makes me want to boycott vista.

Just the security exploits their new 'features' seem to add all the time (activeX anyone?), and the forced insistance on having all of them bloat my OS. (for example fixes for outlook, IE, and office, applications I NEVER USE. Why the frig should I need 155 new updates to fix bugs in software I don't use.... Let alone uninstall them...)

If only they weren't little adolfs with their monopoly I'd be singing their song. But its my computer. Sure its 'their' software I am 'allowed' to use for $100 per OEM license, but I shouldn't have to make a script of registry hacks everytime they decide my computer has problems they want to patch?

Don't even get my started on MS-Anti Virus....

*shudder*

Yeah, you must need that shower.

My God! 8O
What's going on over there with Bill's company???

That's what I'm planning on doing.

Besides, what if a person need to RE-LOAD their OS???
Can they do that multiple times if it's on the same system it was originally installed on?

Okay then, game on for vista bashing...

The simple fact they are using DX10 to force gamers into buying Vista is reason enough to start some mass action against monopoly$oft.

I'm 100% positive now the open source / fsf community can replace the M$ world completely once enough people get behind it.

Its already been proven that M$ software loses the head to head battle with fsf/gnu/opensrc simply because people are allowed to understand how it works, report the bugs in a progressive way, and also use the software as they see fit (modular anyone?).

LAMP is an easy example, but even other office productivity tools and other internet environments strive once controlled by people like w3. Soon Windows, IE, Office will go the way of IIS and ASP.

Sadly though, most game programmers have lived with with DX for so long they probably couldn't write any code that doesn't rely on the stupid M$ apis...

And as usual, M$ only puts effort into products that aren't in a monopoly position, and even then, doesn't really make them better, just adds new features and uses their monopoly leverage to kill their opposition.

And I didn't gripe about it before, but can anybody tell me, and I'm actuall being dead serious here, why the largest software company sells an operating system that instantly loads to say its 'unsafe' and points to anti-virus software made by other vendors??? Could it be because they know protecting windows is pointless so why bother?

Just like the movie 'the corporation' states: "one day, people will goto jail for this stuff"

Have you used Vista at all?

Are you just scared of change?

Not true

Have you ever used Vista. What did Vista do to you? Did Vista get your baby daughter and bite her head off? If you don't like Vista then go and play around with Mac's or with Linux and quit wasting my bandwidth!!!!!

The fact of the matter is that although the wording of the EULA is a bit vague you WILL be able to upgrade your PC and you WILL be able to replace broken bits of your PC. If Vista has a problem all you need to do is call up Microsoft and give them your details and they'll give you a code to reactivate Vista with. This stops shops which want to put one copy of Vista on 10 PC's and then sell them on without having paid for a licence for each PC.

Yes, so since teh goal is to make a profit only one thing to do to make them change their ways. Don't buy it. Find a different alternative. Why? Because if its just pirated and used they'll just get congress to pass more stringent laws and say its because of piracy why they're in the hole. If you don't buy it though they can't point to that.

Only problem is the people who buy their comps from Dell or whoever will most likely have Vista. So if Vista does turn out to be a nightmare(and honestly don't know if it will be or not) question becomes if there's more people against it than what its selling through the volume outlets.

i don't really care about your argument but let me tell you this, if you are trying to prove a point, don't open with a thinly veiled insult.

i don't really care about your argument but let me tell you this, if you are trying to prove a point, don't open with a thinly veiled insult.

Well like you said, I'm stupid. Stupid is, stupid does...

And my arguement has no basis in reality, and nobody would ever want to keep using Xp, nor would anybody be stupid enough to live another day without vista...

Oh, and according to your earlier post DX9L was DX10 for XP, so bla bla genius

(plus it's a well known fact that all welshmen prefer the company of sheep)

Any corporation who exploits a monopoly position and prevents mankind's progress should be overthrown like the evil dictators they worship.

Any person who defends said corporations deserves some venom thrown in their general direction. I sure don't advocate violence, but until my freedom of speech is finally removed as per the M$ EULA, I'll keep preaching to the ignorant.

The fact that the internet has become so successfull happened 'despite' M$, not because of it. Sir Bill never thought folkes would ever use bandwidth restricted dial-up like our poor welsh comrade here.

Sure corporations exist to make profit, and 'ethics' are only for pansey leftwing types who have no place in business, but once people can run all their favourite games on an open/free platform, companies who behave like M$ and crApple will be left behind like the selfish children they are.

It's a heck of a lot easier to make your code work with the rest of the world when it isn't required to work on a 'black box'.

Again, just wasted bandwidth with no point... Grow up microsofties, or atleast farm a better sense of humour

Well I guess my sucky english didn't really make my point clearly.

I like capitalism.

I think M$ should be able to charge as much as they want for any of their applications, and make as much money as they want.

Given time, free/better versions of everything they offer will exist, then nobody need bother with their propriatary junk (ie IIS)

The issue is the 'windows monopoly'.

Anybody who believes there is real choice has their head in the sand.

There is a long history of governments intervention regarding monopolies of key industries. If we had let westinghouse change the power socket standard every few months so you need to buy all new appliances, you have the windows monopoly analogy. Granted the government is run by monkeys, so I doubt they'll ever be able to cope with the pace hi-tech issues present.

But I have faith. The osf/fsf folkes will finally create a gaming api to supersede dx, then finally create an nix os any idiot can use (ie OSX). Those guys/girls actually have fans who love what they do, unlike M$ (present company accepted)

Bloated M$ apps will eventually run ontop of a stable, secure, modular system which doesn't hide its inner workings.

Take away their cash cow windows monopoly and they wouldn't be able to lose billions on xbox, .net, live, and other sectors they haven't yet destroyed the opposition, nor would they if they didn't have windows profits keeping them alive.

Windows was created by Microsoft, so it's THIER product.
If you don't like it...DON'T USE IT!!! 8O

There are quite a few people out there that use Linux, Mac's crap, and whatever OS that is that IBM puts out.

There are other ways to go.

Heck, since I heard about the open source Office suite (that is MS compatible), I've considered playing around with Linux my own self.

You should consider this: quityerbitchin!

You're just making yourself miserable... :x
Along with all those other liberals out there that hate anyone that is sucessful!

Just what fantasy world are you living in?

you know comparing the practicality of linux and windows is one thing, but you're forgetting that unix was there before windows as a non-GNU licensed product until linux came along with open source concept

Just what fantasy world are you living in?

Well its not the paradise that northern manitoba is, I'll grant you that, but we 'do' have sarcasm here in never never (going to buy vista) land...

And yes bsd unix and linux trace their roots back to at&t's 1969 unix. We may not have the 60s free love anymore, but we do have free software that scales from 8bit mcu to 64bit cpu and can still run a pbx if you know what you're doing. Plus its like um, modular, so um, companies can take that open source hippie tripe and i don't know, make OSX with it. But there's no place for open source software in todays market place, right?

Sadly, the root kit worm trojans in all your windows xp & vista boxes are now reporting my genius ideas to M$ hq. I feel a buy out coming on and I forgot to renew my health insurance...

Even if only one person gets a laugh out of my post, its worth it. I'm stuck here at work anyway, though I might be the only one laughing at most of the jokes...

The one thing I'm not laughing about is Ninja's DX9L post. I felt pretty stupid not knowing about it sooner, but you set me straight. I AM stupid for not knowing DX9L was going to work with XP, right?

l
o
frickin
l

stop please, it hurts too much, really it does

granted I could write a wiki article about how your mom has 330 000 employees, but while you're in there with that old type writer maker, you might notice they 'do' make operating systems, in fact lots of them. And for the 'obscure reference a la dennis miller' few out there, my joke was about them selling their pc buiz to lenovo.... A weak joke I admit, but such is the uber sarcasm of that post...

What I should have said is that IBM closed up shop once WinNT was launched. I mean the email suite that NT shipped with was so overwhelmingly powerfull and complete no server system in the world could possibly do all the things with email that was possible with NT

(NT was the first (and probably only) nos to ship without email)

Oh well, time to go home and play bf2 on my (nicely oc'd) pdp-11. 52" LED display makes the AA/AF look soooooooooooooo nice

IBM is a very large company... but it's mostly service they sell now. Sure, they still make computers... but it's for the Enterprise environment and not the consumer space.

Same here. I would have been insulted if I was actually Welsh. But I'm Australian so I just think he's a jackass :?

Yeah, and Microsoft makes all its money of gamers and 'sheep fondlers'?

If you keep on being insulting like this you're going to find yourself banned nice and quick. Stop trying to insult people. Where someone lives or what their nationality is has nothing to do with this discussion.